


Otherworldly Intruders

by FeatherWriter



Category: Cosmere - Brandon Sanderson, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Scadrial, Shardling Secret Santa, The Final Empire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 02:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1727216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherWriter/pseuds/FeatherWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While sneaking between worlds, Loki manages to find his way to Scadrial during the time of the Lord Ruler and is rather intrigued by this world and its self-proclaimed deific leader. But his intentions may not be all that they seem. And when his brother follows him to this strange land of ash and mist, will his plans be thrown into chaos?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

An otherworldly intruder entered Kredik Shaw.

There was nothing noticeably different about the man, no hint in his appearance that would clue in an observer that this was anything but an ordinary man. He looked like one of Kredik Shaw’s palace guards.

Exactly like one of the guards, actually. He had been sure to duplicate the man’s features perfectly.

He made his way through the cold halls, searching. He had spent the first few hours of his arrival wandering the large city, blending in and learning about the world into which he had dropped. In that time had gotten a feel for these people and their lives, and now he wished to learn of their ruler.

He was careful not to be seen as he made his way to the top of the large tower, despite his disguise. There were very few guards within the palace and they only grew sparser as he climbed the stairs, level after level to the throne room. It seemed that most of the guards stayed on the lower levels and outside, around the perimeter of the building, rather than guarding the inside of the large structure.

The intruder pushed open the large doors at the top of the tower, entering an open, circular room with walls constructed completely of a single long pane of stained glass. There were still no guards and no attendants waiting upon the room’s sole occupant, who sat at the very center on a raised throne reading a sheet of paper.

The Lord Ruler looked up as the intruder lithely slipped into the room, his eyebrows drawing together slightly. “Who are you?” he asked levelly. There was a hint of confusion, though not the kind one might expect a ruler to have at the sight of an unauthorized person in the middle of his stronghold. There was no fear or shock in the expression. It was the confusion of finding a small object out of place – the reason for it might be unknown, but it was a problem of little concern and easily dealt with.

The intruder moved confidently through the room, striding with a surety that belied his humble disguise. “I’m not one of your guards,” he said lightly. “Though I have a feeling you had already guessed that. You do not seem worried that you are unguarded with a stranger. Have you no fear of assassins?”

“I am the Sliver of Infinity,” the Lord Ruler said, eyes following the man. “I do not fear. I have no need to. You will be executed for this trespass, of course.”

The intruder did not respond to the threat of execution, simply continuing to walk as he stared out the colored window. “Your people say you are immortal. Truly incapable of being killed.”

The Lord Ruler’s eyes narrowed. “You speak as though you are not one of them.”

 “That would be correct,” the man said. “I am not a citizen of your empire.”

“The entire world is under my rule.”

The intruder stopped, then turned back towards the Lord Ruler with a smile. “And yet I did not misspeak.”

The Lord Ruler frowned more deeply, sitting up. “I will ask again once more before I call to have you taken away. Who are you? What man dares walk undaunted before God?”

The intruder seemed amused at this. “You name yourself a god. How fortuitous, for I am a god, as well. We ought to get along favorably, you and I. As for who I am, I believe you have a problem with which I may be of assistance. A certain troublemaker who seems to have been difficult to kill.”

He spread his hands wide, like a presenter before an audience, then nodded his head in a small bow. A green shimmer flashed along the length of his body as he dropped his illusion for the first time since setting foot on this strange world of ash and mist.

“Allow me to introduce myself…”


	2. Chapter 2

“Elend, you have to come see this!”

Vin looked up as one of Elend’s drinking friends rushed up to their table, wide-eyed and somewhat breathless. She was fairly certain that this was Jastes Lekal, but she didn’t know Elend’s friends well enough to be sure. She and Elend had found a table off in an upstairs room as the ball had started to wind down, and had been talking together before Elend’s friend so suddenly interrupted them.

Beside her, Elend frowned up at the man. “What? I’m somewhat occupied at the moment, Jastes,” he said, tipping his head slightly toward Vin.

“No you’re not,” Jastes said. “Not after you hear this. An Allomancer just dropped out of the sky, and he’s fighting a troop of hazekillers in the courtyard! I think he must be Mistborn!”

Vin’s eyes went wide, and she hoped that her shock hid her worry. _Surely it’s not Kelsier,_ she thought. _He wouldn’t attack one of the balls without telling me, would he?_ Now that she was listening, she could hear calls of alarm from other ball-goers back in the main hall.

“What?” Elend said, standing quickly. Vin rose as well, dress rustling.

“I don’t know any more,” Jastes said, making for the door and waving them toward it. “If you want answers, we need to go see for ourselves!”

Elend looked back at Vin, expression worried. “Valette…”

Jastes rolled his eyes impatiently. “Come on, Elend! Just bring her, honestly. I’m sure she wants to see as well!”

“I do,” Vin said earnestly, starting to move for the door. “I’ll be fine, Elend.”

He nodded, looking somewhat conflicted, but he didn’t try to tell her to stay behind. Together the two of them hurried after Jastes, following the sounds of panicked people. As they ran, Vin glanced over the railing at the dance floor below as one of the hazekillers was thrown through the main doors from outside and into the ballroom. The man tumbled and slid across the floor as noblemen and women cried out and tried to scramble away.

“There’s an outside balcony at the end of the hall!” Jastes called, running toward a set of double doors. He pushed them open and rushed out into the misty night, Vin and Elend staying close on his heels. There were a few other couples on the balcony, watching the scene below in the courtyard. Vin leaned out over the railing as Elend came up beside her, and finally caught her first look at the reason for the commotion.

For a moment, she was simply relieved that the man _wasn’t_ Kelsier. Though his hair was blond, it was quite a bit longer than Kelsier’s and his broad-shouldered and heavily-muscled body was a far cry from Kelsier’s lean and lithe build. He looked quite unlike any Mistborn she’d ever seen, but the way that he was holding his own against more than a dozen hazekillers made it clear that this was no ordinary man.

Instead of the dark clothing and mistcloak one might expect from a Mistborn, this man had on silvery armor and a bright red cape billowing behind him. Even more strangely, in place of coins, he seemed to be using a large metal hammer, Pushing it forward to crash into the wooden shields of the hazekillers with a brutal effectiveness before Pulling it back to his hand. Vin looked behind him, trying to find the anchor he was using to steady himself, but couldn’t find one.

 _Why would he wear metal armor, though?_ she wondered. There didn’t seem to be any Coinshots or Lurchers among the hazekillers, but if any arrived, he would only be setting himself up to be shoved around. Carefully, after making certain her copper was on, she burned steel just to make sure it actually was metal. Sure enough, blue lies sprung from her chest, tracking both the man’s armor and his hammer.

Vin stepped back from the railing a bit, trying to make sense of the situation. Elend turned to look at her as she did. “Valette?” he said, looking concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Actually, Elend,” she said, glancing back toward the doors back into the house. “I think I should probably leave. I don’t think my uncle would want me here while there’s danger.” Looking back, she saw Sazed hurrying toward the balcony doors. “In fact, I see my Terrisman now coming to fetch me.”

Elend turned, noting Sazed. “Be careful, Valette.”

“I will,” Vin said, hurrying for the door. She caught up to Sazed heading for the stairs. “Sazed, what’s going on? Who is that outside?”

He shook his head. “I do not know, Mistress. I have never seen this man before.”

“You need to get back to Kelsier and tell him what’s going on,” Vin said as they stepped out into the back courtyard where their carriage was parked. She could still hear the sounds of the ongoing fight from the front of the keep.

“And you?” Sazed asked, frowning.

“I’m going to keep an eye on this newcomer.” Vin swung up into the carriage, pulling out the dark clothes and folded cloak she had stashed in the trunk beneath the seat. She closed the door behind her, leaving Sazed outside, then started undoing the ties on the back of her dress and changing quickly.

“I am not sure that is a wise idea, Mistress Vin,” Sazed said through the door.

“Don’t worry, Sazed,” she said, tying her belt with her metals and coins around her waist. “I’ll be careful. I can handle this, and someone needs to watch him. I’ll keep my distance until Kelsier shows up.” She knocked on the wood door. “Is everything clear out there?”

“There is no one around to see you,” Sazed said.

Vin slipped back out of the carriage, with her mistcloak tucked under her arm, still folded, then dropped a coin. “Find Kelsier. Tell him that something’s going on. I’ll be careful.”

Before Sazed could try to talk her out of it again, she dropped a coin and Pushed herself up to the rooftops to find a place to watch the strange Allomancer.


	3. Chapter 3

The strange Allomancer fled the keep not long after Vin started watching him. After realizing they would not flee despite being outmatched, he tossed the hazekillers away from himself, then shot off into the air. Vin immediately bounded after him, trying to keep up as he soared over the rooftops of Luthadel. The man was unbelievably good, even better than Kelsier, somehow managing to stay aloft without ever landing. Vin tried to use the anchors he was using to keep himself in the air, but again, she couldn’t find them, settling to use coins to follow him instead.

He finally landed in one of the empty squares in the city, causing the mist to puff outward from him in a billowing ring. Vin dropped to the tiles of a roof nearby, hiding behind a chimney as she watched him. Though she had been careful not to let him see her and to keep her copper on, he looked up toward where she crouched and spoke.

“Reveal yourself,” he said, strong voice carrying across the space. “Please, whoever you are, I mean you no harm. I simply wish to speak with you.”

Vin hesitated, knowing that she probably shouldn’t respond. Kelsier would tell her that engaging a Mistborn of unknown affiliations was far too much of a risk. However, she was curious about him, and she needed to know who he was.

Beyond that, her instincts were telling her that she could trust him. He was obviously held the upper hand in his fight, yet he had left the keep without killing the hazekillers. Even now, he seemed more confused than hostile. He let her keep the high ground and called out to her rather than attacking her position.

Warily, she stepped out into the open, tensed for a trap. She kept her steel burning, ready to Push herself out of the way of any attacks that came or deflect coins if he threw them.

“Who are you?” she asked.

He frowned as he got a good look at her, seeming surprised by her youth. “My name is Thor of Asgard, son of Odin.”

“Asgard?” She’d never heard of such a place. _Must be in one of the Outer Dominances…_ “Why did you attack the keep?”

“Such was not my intention,” he said, speaking with a strange accent. “I fear I startled the guards by landing in the courtyard. I was beset upon by a troop of men before I could explain myself.”

Vin raised an eyebrow. “You dropped out of the sky in front of a Great House keep during a ball and were surprised when they sent hazekillers after you?”

“Hazekillers? I am unfamiliar with the term.” he said.

“Men trained to fight Allomancers?” Vin said. She walked to the edge of the roof, then dropped a coin. She stepped off the roof, pushing off her coin lightly to slow her fall. “Do they not have hazekillers out in, Asgard was it?”

“I do not think we have Allomancers either…” Thor said with a small smile. “Much is different here, I am beginning to see. If I may ask, what is the name of this place?” he asked. “I have come in pursuit of one from my home, yet I know not where he has led me. This realm is unfamiliar to me.”

Vin frowned. “You’re in Luthadel.” At his confused look, she spread her arms, indicating the city around her. “Luthadel? Central Dominance? Capital of the Final Empire?”

A new voice spoke, causing Vin to jump. “The name you are looking for, friend, is Scadrial.” A man in ragged skaa clothing hobbled out of an alley into the square. “However, you’ll find very few of this world’s occupants would know that term. You,” he used his cane to point at Thor, “are a very long way from home. In fact, I believe you may even be farther from your origin than I am, and that is a feat _very_ few have accomplished.”

Thor frowned at the newcomer. “Who are you?”

The man smiled, his eyes showing a brightness that contrasted with his drab appearance. “At the moment, I am giving you information, so you could most accurately call me an informant. I am also however, often a beggar, a thief, a scoundrel, and most deplorably, a storyteller. I am not interesting though, not compared to you. Like I said, you have come a very long way and I am incurably curious as to how you have done it. It isn’t terribly often that one meets a visitor from another world.”

Vin turned back toward Thor with a confused glance. “Another world?”

“Yes, child,” the informant said with a grin. He had a very theatric method of speaking, as though he were on a stage and the world was his audience. “He has the stink of a worldhopper to him, something with which I am rather familiar. However, that is not what I find intriguing. No, worldhoppers are rather more common that one might expect, far too common for my tastes.

“What is surprising is that you, sir,” the man addressed Thor again, “are from a world with which I am not familiar. Which, unless I have made a grave oversight, means you are not a resident of the cosmere.”

Thor nodded slowly. “This world is unfamiliar to me, and nothing like I have seen in the Nine Realms. You would suggest that I have entered another universe?”

The informant raised an eyebrow. “It would appear so.”

Vin took a small step back, looking between the two men warily. Most likely, they were both insane, yet aside from their strange words neither of them seemed out of their wits. She couldn’t help but start to feel that they might be speaking the truth. _This could be far more involved than I was expecting. What have I gotten into and where is Kelsier when I need him?_

As though her thought had summoned him, a coin plinked into the square, quickly followed by a blond figure in a fluttering mistcloak. “Stay back from them, Vin,” Kelsier said sternly, striding toward the group. “I thought you said you were going to keep your distance until I could find you.”

Vin shrugged sheepishly, but stepped back from the two strange men as Kelsier approached. “Plans changed?”

He gave her a disapproving look, but beneath the expression she could tell he was relieved to see she was okay. He looked at the other two men, frowning as his gaze fell on the informant. “I know you from somewhere, don’t I?”

The man smiled again, showing teeth far too white for a skaa beggar. “You did, Survivor, though you were trying to convince me you were a nobleman at the time. Asking after House Renoux, if I remember correctly.”

Kelsier nodded in recognition. “The informant, yes. Hoid, was it? You recognized me that night?”

The man, Hoid, nodded. “You’re not nearly as anonymous as you once were, Master Kelsier, and you were fairly infamous long before your fortuitous escape.”

Kelsier smiled, then bowed his head, imitating a humility Vin knew he did not actually possess. Then he turned toward Thor. “And I would guess that you are the strange Mistborn who caused such a fuss at the ball?”

“I do not know what a Mistborn is, though I suspect that I am not it. That situation was an unfortunate misunderstanding,” Thor said. “I did not mean to cause a panic.”

Kelsier shrugged. “On the contrary, a panic is exactly what I’ve been trying to cause. Quite a few panics, to be precise. Upsetting the nobility endears you to me quite a bit, actually.”

“Perhaps then,” Hoid said with a knowing smile, “it is fortunate he has not his travelling companion’s skill in blending in.”

Thor turned sharply. “Travelling companion? You saw another like me? Someone else from my world?”

“Yes, though as I said, he was rather more adaptive than you have been thus far,” Hoid said. “I ended up losing track of him quite quickly, which is another feat rarely accomplished. If you’re looking to find him, you won’t have an easy time of it I am afraid.”

“Can you describe him at all?” Thor asked. “Though I have followed his path, I do not know who this traveler is, or how he has come to know the gateways between worlds known to so few.”

Hoid shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. All I can tell you of his appearance was that the face he wore was not his own.”

Kelsier looked concerned. “A kandra?”

“What’s a kandra?” Vin asked him, but her question went ignored.

“A lightweaver, actually,” Hoid said. “Or at least, that is how I would call him, though his method of lightweaving was unfamiliar to me. To use a more general term, he is an illusionist, and a skilled one at that.”

Thor nodded, considering this. “There are many among my people with such abilities. I am acquainted well with the capabilities of such individuals. My mother and brother were… once among them.” His voice dropped sadly at the mention of his family and Vin noted the past tense. A lost mother and brother; something she and he had in common, it seemed.

“He will not be easy to find, my otherworldly friend,” Hoid said warningly. “Worldhopping illusionists can be absolute menaces to those chasing them. However, there is one thing that I believe you may count on: if there are important, dramatic events to be seen, he will be there to see them.”

Thor frowned, looking down at the stooped man. “How do you know this?”

“Take your own example,” Hoid said, raising an eyebrow. “Your first instinct was to seek out the most important looking event going on, and you drew down a troop of enemies onto your head. Curiosity is a powerful motivator. When something interesting happens, people come.”

“I agree,” Kelsier said. “A public gathering will draw him out, whoever he is, I’m sure.” Vin frowned, wondering how he could sound so confident about the motivations of a stranger.

“I shall hope that such an opportunity arises, that I may find whoever this runaway may be,” Thor said.

Hoid smiled. “Be careful what you wish for, friend. You should keep an eye on Master Kelsier, here. He is somewhat of an expert in causing a dramatic scene, if I recall correctly.” He turned to leave, hobbling back toward the alley he had come from. “I hope you find what you are looking for, and I hope you will know what to do with it once you do.”

As the informant left, Kelsier looked to Vin with a questioning look, as if to ask her assessment of the strange, red-caped man. She shrugged and he nodded, then turned back to Thor. “It seems,” the Survivor said warmly, taking Vin’s gesture to indicate the man was trustworthy, “that we have things to discuss…”


	4. Chapter 4

“ _Kelsier!_ ” Vin screamed, feeling the rough brickwork bite into her palms as she leaned forward.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Kelsier was just supposed to cause a scene, rescue the captured team members from House Renoux and get out. He’d killed an Inquisitor and revealed himself in front of the massive crowds of skaa, every bit as dramatic as she knew he’d wanted his public entrance to be.

But then he hadn’t gotten out. The Lord Ruler showed up, and instead of running, Kelsier had stayed where he was, hadn’t even fought back. _Why didn’t he fight back?_ She flared her tin, trying to get a better look. She had seen wrong. It was a trick, it _couldn’t_ have happened. _Not like that. He’s not dead… He can’t be dead…_

Her tin only brought the horrific scene into sharper detail. Kelsier lay on the bricks in a pool of blood, not moving, the Lord Ruler’s spear jutting from his chest. As she watched, the Lord Ruler walked away, waving a hand to order the soldiers and Inquisitors to attack the crowds and drive them away.

Ignoring the shouts from Dockson and Ham telling her to stop, Vin threw herself into the air recklessly, Pushing herself over the pandemonium to get to Kelsier. She didn’t bother to drop a coin to slow her fall and hit the cobblestones with a painful jolt, scrambling across the now oddly empty square to where he lay. The Inquisitors had cleared the skaa away, chasing them down the packed streets and the Lord Ruler had climbed into his carriage and left the scene as well.

“Kelsier, no…” she said, moving to kneel beside him, face wet with tears. His wounds were horrific, his face marred badly from the Lord Ruler’s slap, and he wasn’t breathing. She had lived on the streets long enough to recognize the look of death. Those who had never seen a corpse might think a sleeping person would look similar, but there was a difference. There was an emptiness to death, a hollowness that couldn’t be faked, and she felt wordlessly sick to see it in Kelsier.

There was a rush of wind and a fluttering of red fabric a short distance away from Vin as Thor landed in the square, throwing up a puff of ash. He had spoken and worked with them a few times in the week since their first meeting, but Vin hadn’t seen him since the crew had gone to ground in the safe house after finding Marsh’s body.

She felt an irrational anger rise at the sight of the Asgardian. “There! Are you happy?” she shouted at him. “You got your big scene! I hope it was worth it!”

Thor looked down at Kelsier, a deep sadness in his eyes. “Please know that this was never my intention. I am truly sorry for your loss, Lady Vin. He was a great man, though I knew him for only a short time.”

“Where were you?” Vin yelled, feeling herself start to cry again. “You have powers, you could have saved him! You could have stopped him before he did this!” She knew she was throwing the anger she felt at herself on him, but she couldn’t stop herself. _I have powers. I’m a trained Mistborn now. Why didn’t I stop him?_

The answer came to her immediately: _Because I never thought he would actually die._

“With all due respect,” a smooth voice said calmly, behind them “interfering would have been a rather poor choice on either of your parts.”

Vin turned sharply, only to feel her heart leap into her throat with dread. She froze, terrified as she saw the Lord Ruler standing in the square, only a few paces away from her and Thor. _But… that’s not possible! He left in his carriage! How can he be here? How did I not see or hear him approach?_

Then she realized something. She should have _felt_ him approach. She remembered that awful, overwhelming Soothing that covered the entire area around the Lord Ruler in a blanket of despair the first time she had ever seen him. She didn’t feel it coming from him now. With a start, she realized she hadn’t felt it coming from him at all this whole day.

She didn’t know what to do. Thor tensed for a fight beside her, gripping his hammer and looking threatening. Vin didn’t have his confidence, not after how effortlessly the Lord Ruler had struck down Kelsier. How could they fight a man – a god – who even Kelsier couldn’t face?

“Why can’t I feel your Soothing?” Vin asked with a trembling voice, feeling a numbness that had nothing to do with Allomancy. She wasn’t sure why she asked that question of all the things she could have said, but the oddity pulled at her mind through her terror.

The Lord Ruler smiled, the expression startling her. Every other time she had seen or heard him, his cold, calmly emotionless state had seemed absolute. “Ah, emotional Allomancy,” he said, his voice sounding strange, slightly different from before. “Would that I possessed such a marvelous skill. It is not often that I am envious of the powers of others, but for such a useful tool of persuasion I can think of little I would not give. Unfortunately, such power is beyond my ability to duplicate.”

He blinked, and his eyes flashed, suddenly changing from a dark brown to a light blue-green. Vin stepped back, feeling a lurch as recognized the difference in his voice. It was his accent that changed. He sounded like Thor.

“You’re not him,” she whispered. “You’re not the Lord Ruler. You’re the illusionist, the one Thor is chasing.”

The man’s smile split into a wide grin and he took a bow, his entire form shimmering with green light as he did so. The dramatic suit of black and white was replaced with a strange ensemble of black and green with gold accents. The lower section of his cloak was separated into sections, almost like wide tassels on a mistcloak. The Lord Ruler’s face evaporated, revealing angular, unfamiliar features beneath it.

As he straightened from his bow, the transformation complete, he held Vin’s eyes. “You are correct, child. I am Loki, Asgard’s once prince, once prisoner, at your service.” His gaze flicked toward Thor, his expression growing coolly unreadable. “Hello again, Brother. Have you missed me?”

Vin glanced at Thor, who seemed pained by this revelation, strangely enough. “No,” he said slowly. “It isn’t possible…” Vin frowned, remembering. _He thought his brother was dead, didn’t he?_

Loki raised an eyebrow. “I would have thought you would have learned by now that you cannot always trust what you see. One wonders how many times I will be able to fake my death before you stop falling for it, brother. Honestly, if you continue to be taken in by the same tricks I shall grow bored not needing to think of new ones.”

Before Thor could respond, Loki addressed Vin once more. “You must be the young Lady Vin. I had a feeling you might be the one to see through the ruse. He warned me that you were a perceptive one.”

“Who?” Vin said coldly, slowly feeling her terror be replaced by something more powerful: anger. This man wasn’t the Lord Ruler, she didn’t feel the same kind of fear for him. Now, to her, he was nothing more than Kelsier’s murderer. “How do you know my name?”

Loki smiled, sounding fond. “Kelsier, of course. He seemed quite proud of how you’ve grown.”

Vin clenched her fists, feeling her nails bite into her palms. Her cheeks were wet with tears again, but she ignored them. “You killed him,” she said, rage burning deep within her like a flared metal. “It wasn’t the Lord Ruler, it was you! It’s your fault he’s dead!”

“Loki,” Thor said, stepping forward. “What have you done?”

“Only as I was asked to do,” Loki said calmly, unconcerned by the aggressive shift in his two conversation partners. “And now that the Inquisitors have so kindly left us without watching eyes, I am here to finish my role in this affair.”

Vin tensed as he waved his hand toward Kelsier, not understanding what he meant. Kelsier’s form shimmered with the same green light that Loki’s had when he’d dropped his disguise. Vin’s eyes went wide as the illusion dissolved, the spear and all of Kelsier’s wounds vanishing. The still, deathly pallor lifted from his skin and Kelsier stirred, coughing as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position.

“Kelsier!” Vin shouted, burning pewter as she rushed to his side. She wrapped her arms around him, helping him up and holding him tightly.

The crewleader smiled slightly as she supported him, then looked up at Loki. “I thought you said that it wasn’t going to hurt.”

“No, I told you I was capable of creating illusions of wounds that would not hurt,” Loki said with a self-satisfied grin. “Not that I would. It was rather important that you play your part well, and I find that it is easiest to act as though one has been stabbed in the chest when one _feels_ as though they have been stabbed through the chest. As I presume you quickly figured out, I made certain the pain would go away if you stayed still. An incentive to play a convincing corpse, Master Kelsier.”

Kelsier laughed once, letting Vin help him to his feet. He ran a hand over his chest, as if to feel for himself that he truly was unharmed. “Still, that’s not a terribly kind thing to do to someone who is supposedly your ally.”

“It is a fortunate thing that I have never claimed to be kind by any definition of the word,” Loki said. “Don’t feel to upset by my dishonesty. I pulled the same trick on Thor the last time we worked together in order to convince an enemy that I had betrayed him.”

Thor rubbed his wrist unconsciously, as if remembering the false wound. “I thought you _had_ betrayed me when I felt it, Loki.”

“And it is for that reason that our enemy believed it as well,” Loki said, smiling. “The most convincing act is that which is not an act at all.”

“And the Lord Ruler?” Kelsier asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Suspects nothing,” Loki said smoothly. “His Inquisitors will report that I fulfilled my end of my bargain with him, killing you in his guise and solving his ‘Survivor problem’ as I promised. He finds directly involving himself in affairs such as these beneath him, and was more than happy to let me deal with it in his stead. You got your dramatic, public martyrdom and now you have your chance to return from the dead. Your supposed god won’t know he’s been tricked until it’s too late.”

Vin looked at Kelsier sharply. “You planned this? You knew this was going to happen all along?”

He nodded. “Loki found me the day before we first met Thor, and we made an arrangement.” He glanced at Thor apologetically, though he continued speaking to both him and Vin. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell either of you what was going on, but it had to stay secret. Trust me, this is certainly preferable to the original plan, which involved me _actually_ dying. I’m rather relieved to not have to go through with that one.”

Vin hugged him tightly, pressing her face into his chest as her arms tangled in his mistcloak tassels. She burned tin, feeling his warmth and the motion of his chest as he breathed and hearing his heart beat close to her ear. Simply savoring that he was actually, truly _alive._ “I thought you were gone. I thought you’d left me, Kelsier.”

He patted her back comfortingly. “I know, Vin. And I am sorry for that. I don’t ever want you to feel like I’ve abandoned you.”

“Then don’t,” she said stubbornly, her voice slightly muffled by his cloak.

He laughed. “Sounds like a plan. Who am I to argue with that logic?”

“Touching as this reunion is,” Loki said behind them, “this square will not stay empty forever, and you have a revolution to ignite, Survivor.”

Vin pulled away, glancing at Loki, then Thor. “What about you two? What happens next?”

Thor looked pleadingly at his brother, stepping forward again. “Brother, now that I’ve found you, you should return home with me, please.”

Loki eyed him warily. “So that you can stick me back in a cell to rot away, forgotten until I become useful once more? I think not.”

Thor shook his head. “You saved us from destruction, Loki. None can deny that. You will be welcomed back as a hero.”

Loki laughed at that, and there was a note of bitterness to the sound. “Your naïveté is as endearing as it is blind, Thor. Somehow I doubt the rest of Asgard shares your sentiment for me.”

“If there is any who would speak against—” Thor began, but Loki cut him off before he could finish.

“No, there is no longer any place for me there. If you wish to help me, tell none that I live and simply forget about me. Return to your world, brother, and leave me be.” He turned to Vin and Kelsier. “I wish you luck with your revolution, Survivor. Beware the responsibilities of leadership, should they fall upon your shoulders. They are not an easy burden to bear.”

“Loki…” Thor said. “Please, listen to reason.”

“You have none to offer me,” Loki said, turning away. “Go, before you miss your chance to get home. It would not do to leave Asgard without her finest warrior. I can promise you that you will not find me again, even if you stay.”

He began walking away, and Thor ran as if to stop him. Before the red-caped warrior reached him however, Loki’s form shimmered once more then disappeared. By the time Thor reached the spot where his brother had been, there was nothing but empty air and silence.

Thor stopped, shoulders slumping as he sighed sadly. “Goodbye, brother. I _will_ find you again someday. This I swear.” He looked toward the two Mistborn, nodding once respectfully. “I send you better fortune than mine, my friends. If you see my brother in your journey, I ask that you help him if you can, though I fear that for once in his life he speaks the truth about disappearing. He is not easily found if he wishes to remain hidden.”

“You’re leaving?” Vin asked, frowning.

He nodded. “There is nothing more I can do here, and my time on this world draws short. If I do not leave soon, I will not be able to return at all. This is goodbye, for now, though I hope our paths may cross again in the future. Farewell.”

Vin noticed a small golden object in his hand, though she wasn’t sure where it had come from. With an expression of deep resignation, Thor turned something on the device, then clutched it tightly. A bright blue light that flickered like flames engulfed his body, then shot upward and disappeared.

Kelsier and Vin stared into the gray, ash-filled sky for a moment after he was gone, and Vin felt a small sadness at his parting. Then, Kelsier turned toward her, his characteristic smile already spreading across his face.

“Let’s go, Vin,” he said, dropping a coin. “We have an empire to topple, you and I.”


End file.
